Formation Process of Intermittent Molten Bridge Between Au-Plated Contacts at Super Low Breaking Velocity

This paper presents the molten bridge behaviors of Au-plated material at super low breaking velocity conditions by introducing our new designed test rig. The typical waveforms of the contact voltage and contact force during breaking are investigated under the load of 5-25 V/0.2-1 A and velocity of 25-150 nm/s. It is shown that the intermittent molten bridge is formed from the competition of multitude contact a-spots for current distribution and the solid-liquid mixing characteristics of a molten bridge. Also, it is proved that the bridge is not composed by the completed melted metal by using FEM thermal simulation and the voltage-temperature relation. The observed surface morphology reveals that the scattered and stacked melted regions are attributed to the intermittent bridge. Finally, the effects of breaking velocity and electrical load on bridge length and duration are also analyzed.